Collateral Damage
by jaggedjacket
Summary: When Tenten gets kidnapped with Matsuri and Shikamaru, she can only guess that she was taken on accident. The trauma to her head could only mean certain death...or love? Me no own. Kanxten Complete.
1. Chapter 1

Tenten was brought to arousal by someone repeating her name so loudly they had nearly gone hoarse.

"Tenten!" This continued in a loop until she managed to open her eyes even as her body shifted to let the one yelling at her that she was indeed coming to. At least she _attempted_ to open her eyes, there was a thick crusty substance blocking her left eye from opening completely, weighing down on the lid, and the pounding pain pulsing in her skull told her that any light would only amplify the migraine threatening to empty the contents of her stomach.

"'M 'wake, Lee," the strangled words escaped her desiccated throat without much thought. While she coughed into her shoulder as she finally opened her eyes as much as she possibly could, she could hear the person who had called her name redirect their attention to someone else and speak lazily in an aggravated drawl.

"Tell me I do _not_ sound like Lee."

There was a female voice that was soft, but didn't do much to placate him. She merely explained with exasperation that he had bigger problems than sounding like a ninja that Gaara-sama respected and their conversation died with a drawn out and frustrated "troublesome."

Meanwhile, the coughing did nothing to help the slamming pain concentrated on her left parietal bone, and she wondered to herself if her head had gotten in a fight with a bowling ball.

She moved her left arm to try and clear the crap encrusted over her left eye so she could see more than just a blur of orange light and misshapen objects, but was halted in her attempt by manacles that cut into her wrists. She groaned in pain, letting it slowly escape from her lungs.

Focusing on a visual to help orientate her, she willed the room to come into focus once more.

She found a scowl on an unhappy visage to her left, and further down to that person's left was probably where the female voice originated from. She was able to make out a concerned face. It belonged to someone she had recently made friends with, and mild panic started to finally work its way up in her system.

"Shikamaru? Matsuri?" She heard herself ask with uncertainty. They were chained up in shackles just like she was, all in a room with unrecognizable seals lining the walls. Most likely some type of jutsu that prevented them from molding chakra or traps set to go off if they escaped. It was probably both.

Shikamaru had sounded hoarse now that she thought about it, and someone as lazy as his caliber mustering up that much energy to cause themselves damage to their vocal chords censored mild alarm through her. Yelling and screaming just really weren't his thing.

The shinobi in her set to examine all the details that she could focus on, and she concentrated on the room first.

It was small, underground, and there were no windows. There was one way out, which was a hole in the ceiling far above their heads. All of these things spoke only one thing to her.

They were all going to die here.

Shikamaru eyes looked bloodshot and watery, like he had just suffered a massive sneezing attack. Matsuri's left arm was bruised around the elbow and she looked as if she was still recovering from a struggle. She knew from the alarming amount of blood drying on her shirt and pants that she had been taken unawares by a blunt instrument. If she had to guess, Matsuri had been drugged by some kind of barbiturate in a syringe and Shikamaru had most likely been jutsued and had allergies, or he had been chlorophormed.

"You two are soooo lucky you got knocked out with drugs," she managed to say with minimal slurring.

"We are so relieved that you are awake," Matsuri's voice filled her ears, and she could tell the smaller girl was truly happy she had pulled through, and her voice registered scratchy as well. How long had they been screaming her name?

"How long have I been out? How long have we been here?"

Shikamaru and Matsuri looked at each other a few beats before Matsuri spoke again.

"I was the first one to wake up," she spoke hesitantly, as if she were almost ashamed to speak. "Shikamaru woke up a few short minutes after me." They exchanged glances again.

"_When_ did you wake up?" Tenten tried again, mustering up more force into her voice to reiterate how important it was that she answer the question.

"About two days ago," came the hushed reply. Tenten squeezed her eyes shut tightly. She had been out for quite some time. The trauma to her head might have possibly meant to kill her if she had been out so long.

"Do we know who brought us here?" Tenten tried again and forced herself to swallow a bit of her saliva to help redampen her throat.

"Someone comes to shove a pill down into our mouths once a day. It prevents us from needing to eat or use the bathroom. The person hardly talks to us and wears all black. I believe they are male, most likely foreign, as they have an accent I have never heard before." Shikamaru eyed the door above them as he tilted his head upwards. "He will be here in a few hours. And for all my genius, I have no idea how to get out of here."

It was not the most comforting thing to say, but honest truth was really the only thing she wanted to hear at the moment. She didn't expect him to continue, however, so when he did, she had to refocus her attention to him and not re-evaluate the room with her eyes again to try and find another escape route.

"Matsuri and I have had a long time to talk about it," he began and then pierced his eyes on her, "I can't figure out why you are here."

The thought occurred to her that there had to be a connection between the three of them, but for the life of her, she hadn't put that together yet.

"What do you mean?" her addled brain from the bowling ball type object used to render her lifeless and ultimately bring her to this hell hole, was not quite catching up to speed.

"The best that we can figure is that we were captured to put pressure on Gaara and his siblings. Someone wants paybacks and kidnapping their loved ones was the best way to get results. It's no secret that Temari and I are involved. It was, however, a secret that Masuri and Gaara had been seeing each other romantically. That leaves you." There was a pause so she could take all the information in. She had known about the affair between the younger kunoichi and the Kazekage as she and her had become friends over the last few months.

"You think that I was kidnapped to get to _Kankuro_?" she asked with a mixture of incredulousness and sarcasm. "Have you met any of the members of my team?" She rallied against the chains that bound her arms and realized there were more that shackled her feet as well. The confinement only served to fuel her into bucking wilder, the chains clanged and banged loudly, "They piss people off by just_ smiling_ at them. I think you are barking up the wrong tree."

More exchanged looks as Tenten let more frustration out on the fetters and manacles by trying to twist and writhe out of them. When the tantrum had passed into large gasps of air and splotchy vision that promised blissful unconsciousness, Shikamaru's voice grounded her back to reality.

"Then you might have been taken by mistake." Shikamaru reasoned. "You and I are both Leaf, but…" he hesitated, as if not knowing how to speak his next words without offending her.

"You are an heir to a clan and I am pretty much expendable, yeah, I did the math in what's left of my head. They wouldn't go through the trouble of taking someone unless they had quite a bit of value. Matsuri and you are face cards, worth a hellova lot more points than me. Why bother taking me unless they got the wrong person or they are after pissing off Team Gai? And Gai and Lee and Neji _will be pissed_ that I am gone, by the way." She added in her defense, just so they knew that she might not have a family, but the team she had was the family that would grieve her if she died.

"So the guy that is holding us captive isn't as smart as we originally thought. That will definitely work to our advantage." Shikamaru explained in a lower register as if they might possibly be overhearing their conversation.

Matsuri gave him a wary look, and shifted uncomfortably in her chair. In a small voice she mumbled, "I don't think he made a mistake."

"Matsuri," Shikamaru turned to face her, "We have been over this," his voice was laced with exasperation as he insisted for what was probably not the second or third time pedantically, "He has told me himself how much he was relieved that Baki and himself were available for duty and how Leaf nin like us should just stay in our own damn country. Trust me, he relished the fact that that he didn't have to help her train anymore."

Tenten had almost forgotten the fact that she had been sent to Suna by Gai to train with Baki on how to use the legendary fan the Bashosen she acquired after the war. The sessions had started out with basic techniques until Baki insisted that Kankuro join their sessions so he could critique her battles. Kankuro had been particularly brutal their first match, choking her with his bare hands until Baki had run over and had to pull him off of her. She had been deprived of oxygen to the point of seeing stars and blacking out, and if the wind-user hadn't stepped in when he had she probably wouldn't have survived.

Kankuro had come up to her the next day and snarled to her that his former sensei insisted that he not kill her and then proceeded to make a snide comment about Konoha shinobi being babied before he stalked off in an angry huff.

Her team was renowned for pissing people off to this point, so it didn't really bother or intimidate her as was his intention that he had made such a comment. She took it with a grain of salt and knew that if the man was given the opportunity to make it look like an accident, he wouldn't hesitate to end her life in his country, paperwork and politics be damned.

That was about eight weeks ago. She had spent six weeks training with Baki and Kankuro in Suna in exchange for the legendary weapon to be displayed in the Suna weapon's exhibit. She had agreed they could keep it for as long as they deemed worthy as horse trading for housing her and training her. She had originally wanted them to keep it longer than six weeks, as she felt the training, and yes piss poundings she received from Kankuro, were worth more than equal amounts of time. Gaara had asked for her return a quick two weeks after she had left the fan in his care, and she felt more than just a little indebted to Gaara and Suna and his hospitalities that she agreed to stay for an extended time in Suna, per his request, as a special demonstrator for the ancient fan so that the people of Suna would better appreciate its power with a demographic performance as opposed to seeing it collect dust on the museum shelf. He had told her they would arrange for remuneration when she arrived, and she wasn't sure who was supposed to paying whom, but she left it up as something they would discuss during her briefing.

She had hardly left the gates of Konoha when she had gotten bludgeoned and dragged here.

"I was on my way to Suna when I was attacked," she spoke through gritted teeth. "Bastard must have taken me just to kill me and rub it in stupid Kankuro's face that he got to do what he couldn't do while Baki was watching." She reasoned as she tried to jump up in her chair and move it. "No matter how you look at it, I am collateral damage." She gave into her fit once more, aggressively jerking in her chair so she could get behind Shikamaru.

"There is one more thing I think you should know, Tenten." He nodded at Matsuri, who gave shook her head to let him know to proceed. "It's the way that we were taken that has me most concerned."

"What do you mean?" she scooted her chair closer to the back of his in little hops and scrapes across the floor.

"We were all taken on our way to Suna. Matsuri was coming back from a mission, and I was coming over for more diplomatic meetings with the Suna Council and Gaara. But," he hesitated once more, "Gaara's sand is, for all intents and purposes, impenetrable. Matsuri wasn't clubbed in the back of the head like you were, she was taken by injecting a drug in her system while sleeping. Temari is afraid of being taken from behind and over powered. Both of us were drugged. Gaara and Temari still haven't quite gotten over their fear of drugs and poisons since Kankuro's near death before the war. We figure that is why you got hit in the head and not drugged. Since his recovery, it was no longer an issue for him. But he wears that hood, so we figured that he might have some kind of an aversion to having any kind of head wounds."

Tenten scoffed, "Who wouldn't."

"Dammit! Listen to me! Do you know if Kankuro has a fear of being hit in the head?"

Tenten had to take several deep breaths and concentrated on what Shikamaru had been rambling on about before answering.

"There was one time during practice that I knocked his hood off and gave him a decent gash along his temple. It wasn't nearly as pretty as the one I am currently sporting, but it was enough that he nearly ripped me apart afterwards. But honesty anything I did pissed him off, so I am not sure that counts." She added unhelpfully. "Like I said, the man is just going to be pissed that this asshole got to watch me die and he didn't. You never know, Kankuro might clap the man on the back after he snuffs the life out of me, and congratulate him on a job well done or something. I wouldn't put it passed him to be ecstatic and leap at the chance to kick my lifeless corpse. Hell, the two could bond over this for all we know." She grit her teeth as she made a final hop-jump with the chair to position herself in place. "He might thank the man for completing a task that would otherwise cause an international incident."

"Ok, we get it, Kankuro hates you and wants to see you drown in a pool of your own blood." Shikamaru summarized as he craned his neck over his shoulder to get a twenty on just what she was up to. "You going to tell us what you are doing now?"

"I keep an emergency senbon in my hair for just such occasions. Once I fall over, carefully find it without undoing the tie and try to find the weapon so we can pick the locks and get the fuck outta dodge."

There was a moment's pause before the clacking of the chair hit the floor and Tenten braced herself for the impact, trying to guard her injuries so she wouldn't do further damage. It completely knocked the wind out of her and she tried to hold her head up so that Shikamaru could find the hair bun with his fists. In the pregnant pause in which Shikamaru filtered through her hair with his long fingers, Matsuri's voice once again reiterated with soft certainty, "He doesn't hate you, Tenten."

There was no reproof to be made as Shikamaru suddenly piped up, "Got it!" and the whole group seemed to be uplifted from just this simple statement. There was hope.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This one is going to update quickly. Hope you all enjoy! I agree that this pairing doesn't have enough love.

(o)

"It has occurred to me," Tenten groaned from below them both, "That falling on the floor like that may have been a bad idea." The impact triggered a recent memory of her training with Kankuro, and she just didn't know why this particular memory was brought to the front of her mind.

Baki had sent out for some sushi to be delivered to them after a full morning and afternoon of rigorous training without much respite. She was sandwiched in between the two Sand nin on a boulder overlooking the training fields, swinging her legs like a school girl and spreading gobs of wasabi on each sushi roll until she ran out. She had casually asked Baki if he wasn't using his wasabi only to note that the man had finished everything on his plate, including the small amount of wasabi that was allotted per sushi bento. She remembered being amazed at how quickly men ate, inhaling their food at alarming rates before she could even get one bite thoroughly chewed. Kankuro had fled quickly, apparently just as fast as Baki was at shoveling food in his mouth, the container left beside her with everything gone but the green slab of wasabi. That had been a week after they started training together. She didn't think much of it at the time, only that Kankuro didn't like wasabi on his sushi. It had been fortuitous, and she left it at that.

The room was spinning now, and for some reason there was a crunching sound that she had focused on when she landed that hadn't made a whole lot of sense until she coughed again and spat blood.

"Oh crap."

"Shikamaru!" Matsuri hissed beside him, "She can't lose any more blood, her body won't be able to take it. I think she broke some ribs on the way down and punctured a lung."

There was a grunt and some clicking of the chains around his wrists before a triumphant and smug, "I'm free," escaped his lips. He picked the lock around the fetters and quickly freed Matsuri next so they could both bring Tenten up in her chair and look her over after removing her cuffs.

Tenten had begun to lose just a little too much blood, giggling to herself at some unknown joke.

"She's gone punchy," Shikamaru drawled with a scowl as if he had stated the most troublesome thing in the world.

"I think she is going into shock," Matsuri corrected and looped her arms around her from behind, "Help me lie her down on the ground."

"You have to get out of here," Tenten soberly reached up and grabbed both of their forearms simultaneously, "I'm dead weight, you have to leave me."

She was brought back to another memory of training with Kankuro and Baki as the pain in her side increased. They were taking a water break after Kankuro and Tenten had soundly beat the crap out of each other, sporting all sorts of scrapes, bruises, and lacerations. Baki rolled his eyes and sourly told them to either start clotting or they were going to have to stop the training session for the day. Kankuro had reached over to her and pointed a finger harshly against her ribs where Kurasu had sliced open the flesh in a jagged fashion. The action of his gloved hand digging into her open wound caused her to yelp and jump. When she looked down, the part where he had poked was completely healed, most likely to the point where it wouldn't scar. Kankuro had given her a smug, satisfied look after that little stunt. The playfulness and evil mischief was bouncing around behind his eyes as he stared at her, essentially egging her on to do the same to him in return. The challenge was accepted and she retaliated by zapping him in a likewise manner on his raw open knuckle where she had grazed off the skin with a shuriken at an early point in their match. He took the healing, yet painful chakra with a dignified grunt. The chakra they used was healing, yes, but did so in a fashion that gave the recipient a jolt of pain like a hot brand instead of soothing like normal practitioners used. Healing chakra combined the added aspect of deadening the nerve endings while they were being repaired so it would not cause the patient to go into shock or pass out as every nerve axon fired at once. It was part of the reason why the jutsu was so hard to master. Leaving that part out made it a hell of a lot easier to heal someone. They prodded and poked each other until the bleedings stopped and Baki was satisfied that they were healed enough to continue their sparring match. She could have sworn she heard something about the two of them being masochistic and insane being muttered by the wind-user under his breath, but she neither cared nor wanted to know if it were true. She was brought back to the present and out of her memory by Matsuri's voice full of conviction.

"There is no way we are leaving you behind," Matsuri firmly assured her as she placed a hand on hers to comfort her. Shikamaru nodded the same sentiments to her. They were in this together; they were not leaving anyone behind.

"We can pretend to still be shackled and take the guy out. Let's get you back to your chair. It might be our only chance for escape."

They steadied her back to the chair and placed the cuffs over her hands and feet so they looked like they had before, only unlocked so she would be able to spring from them once they took out their attacker. Shikamaru positioned theirs in the same fashion as they took their positions on their chairs once more.

Then they played the waiting game, but it didn't take long.

He dropped down almost silently, clad in black as Shikamaru had mentioned before. The ominous figure stepped closer towards them, coming to Tenten first, who had been nodding in and out of consciousness, at times filling the room with giggles in her delusionally low-on-blood state.

When she had spotted the figure over her, peering at her with curiosity, she tittered at the thought that he had come to kill her.

"Why even bother to keep me alive if he wants me dead so badly?" she giggled at how slurred her speech had become, blood rasping at the edges of her mouth. The thought of death being so close thrilled her. "Won't he be mad that you offed me instead of letting him do it? Or was that the point?"

"I see you are finally awake, my dear," the unfamiliar voice cooed as he took her cheeks firmly between one hand to look her over, "I might have taken it a bit too far with you, but I am glad to see how resilient you are. Kankuro will be more than pleased that the girl he has been crushing on since you began training with him is alive…at least for the moment."

"Don't you mean 'girl he wants to crush'?" She asked as if it weren't even a question. "Besides," she said as a sudden piece of information flooded her brain, it was something vitally important, but she didn't know why at the moment. "Isn't he supposed to get married to some foreign dignitary's daughter? I overheard Gaara and Kankuro discussing the marriage, so I think you might want to check again." She leaned in to lower her voice in a reprimanding way, which only served to piss off her captor.

He slipped his grip from her face to her throat in a fit of rage, and Tenten sputtered as her eyes bulged and all of her oxygen was cut off. She could almost see Kankuro in the dark person's place, the sudden memory of the puppeteer choking her became so vivid it had become hard to distinguish whose hands were clamped around her neck.

"He was supposed to marry my daughter!" he hissed, "Then you came along and now the boy thinks he can marry for love! My country needs this alliance!" He finally released his grip on her neck and collected himself.

"Why not just kill me? Why bring them into it?" she gasped as her lungs took in much needed air in hurried gulps. She had gotten him talking, which was why Shikamaru had not made a move. The more information they could get out of him, the better chance they had of escaping their prison.

"No one was going to care if an orphan from Konoha went missing," he gestured with a hand wave, "But if both the Kazekage and his sister had loved ones that went missing, too, things start to come off the back burner."

"So _they_ are collateral damage?" Tenten baulked. She never imagined that she would be a pivotal catalyst piece in an international negotiation that somehow went to hell all because someone supposedly fell in love with her. Her team would be so proud, she could feel Gai's tears of joy streaming down her face as he hugged her tightly, crushing her rib cage. It was actually blood and a punctured lung, but the hallucination had the same effect as if the man had suddenly appeared.

"I have no intention of killing any of you, even if I am certain that no one would miss you besides your little lover boy." She remembered that Kankuro hadn't shown up to even say good-bye to her the day she left. After so long, with practicing and being forced to hang out socially, she almost thought he was starting to at least tolerate her. It was then she knew he wanted nothing more than for her to get out of his life, his country, his space. Gaara had told him the day before she left about the marriage contract, so he was probably busy with negotiations, meetings, and thinking about his new bride that he couldn't give her a second thought.

The barb about no one missing her if she were to disappear thoroughly pissed her off, but as offended as she was at the fact that he knew no one but her team would morn her if she died, she was partially relieved that Shikamaru and Matsuri would live whatever her outcome turned out to be.

"You are such a jackass!" she tried the direct approach, the one that usually worked well with her teammates and other thick-headed idiots that somehow didn't understand their own stupidity. "Kankuro doesn't even like me! Were you not listening? You have the wrong girl! He would like nothing more than for you leave me here to die in this hell hole!"

He grabbed her face once again with just as much force as he did to choke her.

"You didn't see the look of sheer terror on his face when he opened my little letter to him. He went so white after he saw the pictures I took of your bloody, lifeless body, he emptied the contents of his stomach in one of Gaara's favorite potted plants." He shifted his hands around her throat again, cutting off her oxygen with both hands in a fit of furry that was more aggressive than the last time, promising certain death as his hands tightened to crush her trachea. "But if you insist on dying now, I can arrange that!"

It was enough of a distraction that Shikamaru had finally had enough of his ranting bull shit to firmly knock him out from behind with one of his chains.

"Morino Ibiki would be proud," Shikamaru smiled as he nursed a wrist in one hand to ease the pain the shackles had caused. Knowing they were close enough to Suna for him to pay them a visit meant they were most likely on the northern side of the country in the caves and abandoned mines. They could risk a journey for a day in Tenten's condition and could take out their attacker out with minimal risk of getting stranded in a desert for weeks on end.

"Let's get the hell out of here." Matsuri was the one to call from behind them.

"I couldn't have said it better myself."

Tenten decided there was another option and finally passed out.


	3. Chapter 3

She remembered blinding sunlight at one point right after a good amount of her pain had subsided. Matsuri had probably regained enough of her strength to provide her with some healing and she was sincerely grateful for the relief.

She delve into another flashback from Suna in her delirium. Temari had come back from a mission and had wanted to "assist," as Kankuro had the last two weeks, in Tenten's training. She haughtily arrived on the field announcing that a _real challenge_ was now provided for her, causing the puppeteer and his former master to roll their eyes in unison at Temari's out-of-proportion ego.

Not having the privilege of encountering the kunoichi on the battlefields since the chunin exams, Tenten happily agreed. Kankuro stood on the sidelines, apparently making bets and comments with Baki on who would actually win the match. Temari remained a formidable opponent, nearly twice as strong as she had been since the chunin exams all those years ago. Since the ancient fan she wielded depleted most of her chakra, Tenten had to use it at the most opportune time in order to beat the other wind-user. Fortunately for her, no one had seen her make a clone of herself in the aftermath of a violent gush of wind of Temari's fan. The replica was nearly to the point of puffing into smoke as it took the swift beatings by the Suna princess when she noticed Kankuro running onto the field to stop the match and the two kunoichi's pulled their moves in order for him not to be caught in the cross-fire. Interference was called by Baki, who looked like he was fighting an aneurism and called off the match. It wasn't until the next day that Tenten got the chance to soundly beat the blonde's ass on the field, but only at the absence of Kankuro to witness it.

The familiar glare of hospital lights flickered one by one in succession searing her brain with its piercing white florescent lights. She was on gurney no doubt, being rushed to the ER. People were screaming over her, one hooded puppeteer in particular fell white as a sheet against his purple paint. He looked scared, an emotion she hadn't seen on him before. She tried to touch his face, to see if he were real or an apparition, but as her arm reached out to him, the pain against her head overpowered her, and the pulsing gush of blood drowned out his screams and pleas to _stay with him_ and she closed her eyes, falling back into sleep.

She'd been meditating in a field in Suna. It was one of her few days off that she was allotted, neither having to train nor participate in boarder patrol, as was sometimes her duty while staying in Suna. She hadn't realized how much she needed the time to herself, although it was considerably less than if she had still been training with Team Gai. The pressing need to meditate became more mandatory in order to keep the better part of her psyche intact as long as she remained on that team. As much as she adored being on Team Gai, they continued to be a strenuous part of her life, and meditating helped to mitigate the overwhelming urge to pull her hair out on a regular basis as she delt with the roller coaster of emotions from each male on the team. The down-time became a ritual of sorts for her, and here, in the middle of a cool breeze and empty field, she appreciated the fact that she had still indulged herself in it, even if she didn't need the mental break as much as she had before.

It had only been a few minutes in her meditative trance that she had heard a noise that the ninja in her just could not ignore. Coming out as quickly as she could, she stood up and looked around.

The wind had begun to whip against her, coughing up sand and rocks in its wake. The sky had turned from the friendly blue when she had begun earlier, to an angry purple and inky black, one that promised destruction as the temperature dropped dramatically. Then she spotted the wall of rain and sand and wind, coming so fast, there was no way she was going to be able outrun it. As the wind whipped around her and she was trying to decide on which direction would be the safest to run, a black figure appeared at her side, pulling her wrist and trying to shout over the roar of the storm welling up around them. He stopped at a seemingly random spot on the field and pulled open a door in the ground out of nowhere. He threw her down into the cellar type room and he pulled the door closed with chakra infused hands behind him, slamming them into darkness.

The storm raged on above them, a menace that seemed upset about not being able to take them in its throws as it howled against the sturdy structure under the earth. She figured the storm shelters were mandatory in every training field, and she would be sure to locate the one in the field she was practicing in before she started training each day from now on in case something like this happened again.

A greenish-yellow light flickered on above them, and Kankuro's face seemed just as ferocious as the torpid gale above them as he growled his way over to her, seething with impatience and wrath at her folly of being caught in the storm completely defenseless. Then his face changed as she noticed at the same time her face was wet, and she casually blotted the moisture with her hand as she looked up, wondering if there was condensation on the ceiling of the granite that had dripped down upon her. Perhaps it had been an underwater pipe that had leaked, but as she moved her head upwards to find out, the pain finally registered and the color on her hand proved her theory that rocks were now officially harder than her head. As nice as it had been to be saved by Kankuro, him throwing her like a sack of potatoes in a room made completely out of fortified earth could have caused more damage than being admitted to the ER to get sand-filled lungs pumped clean. Provided she was alive to make it to the ER that is.

Whatever concern he had accidently emoted initially was quickly wiped away and replaced with a harsh reprimand. He started in with his usual bull shit about how leaf nin are weak sissies. He followed it up by stating that she was a wilted leaf, going on about how stupid she was that she hadn't noticed a sandstorm trying to eat her as she sat in a field. Instead of yelling back at him, like she would have with Lee or Neji, she simply stated that she had checked the boarder weather reports and after the guards giving her the go-ahead, she continued on with her normal training regiment like she regularly did on her days off. She even stated that if it hadn't been for him, she might not have made it.

She dabbed at her head again, the red syrupy liquid coming out too fast and she stumbled. Kankuro cursed, though whether it was at her or the situation, it was unclear. He steadied her, and brought a hand up to her head in the eerie green light. She clamped her eyes shut, waiting for the caustic pain of his healing jutsu to hit her. Her eyes shot open as she felt the warm healing chakra flood over her gash and close it up without so much as a jolt of pain.

He had been gentle on purpose to her.

She caught the look in his eyes, the rugged harsh emotion at battle with a softer side of Kankuro that he tried to hide behind being mean, cranky and linear face paint. She didn't know how she had ended up clinging to him, grasping the front of his shirt with shaky hands. Perhaps it was the thunderous racket overhead that wanted her to cling to the only human around; perhaps it was because she was trying to brace herself for the harsh healing that never came. They stayed like that as the storm passed, his strong arms around her, somehow comforting her, and she felt safe for some unknown reason. He was as reluctant to let her go as she was to part from him when the storm abated. He eventually swallowed and stated that the storm had passed and that he was going to bring her to the hospital to make sure her head was properly healed. She didn't see him anymore that day after he left her in the doctor's care. His compassion had left her confused, but his absence spoke that he had probably done so unwillingly, and it was likely never going to happen again, no matter how nice it was to have his warm comfort around her during a somewhat scary moment.

Now she was regaining consciousness again, the memory all but lost as a dream, but somehow she knew it was real. But this time was different. This time there was no pain. She decided she was either dead or completely high. When she opened her eyes and took note of the IV in her arm, she was relieved it was the drug thing.

When she moved her head to look around, she made a note that the drugs weren't all that great as a small pounding still forged itself upon her frontal lobe, but she opened her eyes nonetheless.

Since she wasn't a fan of the smell of antiseptic, she wanted nothing more than to ditch the hospital scene and find a decent place to eat.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A hand had come over hers, just as she was willing herself to rip the IV from her hand. Kankuro, in all his bunraku glory was standing over her, a formidable disapproving scowl thinly hiding some form of happiness pervading through his eyes. It had taken her a while to understand his emotions and read his expressions before, during and after their training sessions, but she had become a master of reading people over the years. It was like a second nature to see beyond angsty seething and cries of insanity about youth to find the emotions laying raw on the surface beneath the underneath.

Kankuro was extremely happy she was awake, even if she wasn't.

She let her arm drop and head fall slowly to the back of her pillow as she closed her eyes.

"Fine. You win." She sluggishly admitted defeat without much conviction. She was far too tired to attempt a jail break if Kankuro was determined to deter her efforts.

"I'll go tell the nurse you are awake. Stay put," he ground out harshly, "Don't make things troublesome by running, Leaf."

She could tell he was all bark and no bite, although it had taken quite some time with him to know this. He no doubt would kick her ass if she didn't do as she was told, however. Normally she would have mocked his use of using troublesome like Shikamaru, but she was too tired to form a clever retort.

"No running under penalty of Kankuro coming and finishing psycho's job. Rodger that." She settled back onto her pillow with a yawn and a mock salute and closed her eyes again, hardly registering Kankuro's grunt as he left.

Then she was out again, just as easily as she awoke. Another memory stirred in her brain. She had just gotten off of boarder patrol, and a few of the men were all playing poker at the main tower post in one of the break rooms. Baki had called it quits and all of the other shinobi asked her if she wanted to take his place. She shrugged her shoulders to agree, not having anything better to do. She slipped into his seat and they dealt out cards.

After a round, she asked casually if it was customary to cheat. She was met with weary looks and stunned silence around the table. Since they were playing for money after all, she figured it was a crucial question. They were clearly affronted and stated that no one was cheating at the table. Tenten threw her cards down and stated simply that she didn't play with liars or cheaters and made her way out the door.

That was when someone grabbed her from behind and threw her up against the wall. The truth, or insult as it was to them, could not go unpunished, and a few of the men wanted her to state her apologies, _or else_. She knew what they meant. She weighed the variables in her head about possibly starting an international incident between two countries over a stupid card game. She surreptitiously picked the man's pockets of all of his earnings as she spoke, telling the man that he was a cheater and to put her down before he lost a limb.

The man snarled at her and was ready to try and slam her against the wall again, when someone filled the entire expanse of the door way, an intense chakra leaking killing intent that hit everyone soberly.

Kankuro had threatened the man thoroughly with just a look and a gnash of his teeth, and the jackass that had her pinned released her, a bit panicked now that the Kazekage's brother had just witnessed him intimidating a welcomed visitor and ally to Suna. She may not have been a foreign dignitary, but the look in Kankuro's eyes told them she was hands-off.

Tenten reminded all of the men that they were assholes and cheats and liars before leaving, frowning at Kankuro at how she got kunai blocked and could no longer have any fun and set an example with the moron who touched her. She found out later that Kankuro had no real business in the tower, and it had been another serendipitous coincidence that he had arrived only to nullify any violence that would have ensued. Just like on the training grounds, he had showed up unannounced and in the nick of time. He just tended to show up in a cantankerous mood, out of nowhere, only to help her out like she was his responsibility to look after. For as much as he kept saying that he wanted her dead, he sure did end up saving her ass a lot. Not that she needed saving from the idiot in the tower, she could have handled herself and then some. However him showing up just happened to eliminate the need for her to fill out unnecessary paperwork and be deported. He probably also saved her from having to try to get more blood out of her clothes that evening.

The guard had mysteriously ended up in the hospital with injuries received by an accounted for party the next day. Tenten figured it had been Baki's handiwork.

She wondered suddenly why Kankuro was even in her hospital room to begin with if all the man was going to do was yell at her about being weak like Neji always did, just in less of a blasé tone and more colorful word choices. Neji at least had the decency to call her by her name and keep his voice at an even level which made it easier to tune out.

Yet, she had a feeling Neji wouldn't have been there in just the right place at just the right time as Kankuro had. Something wasn't adding up with that man. Tenten chalked it up to Gaara had put him up to making sure that she didn't die on foreign soil and focused instead on waking up.


	4. Chapter 4

The world around her was dark, there were people outside her hospital door talking where they thought that she wouldn't be able to hear. Normally that would be true, but the voice that had been talking had taken on an edge of desperation, and a brutish quality that she had become fond of over the last few months. Then she realized that it was Kankuro speaking, and she figured that last thought was permissible only since she had recently undergone serious head trauma.

Matsuri's words flooded over her again and again, and it wasn't just at the bottom of a cave that she had told her so about Kankuro specifically not hating her. Matsuri had mentioned before that Kankuro treated her differently than anyone she had ever met. She had scoffed and told the girl that _no one_ could piss someone off like a member of Team Gai, and Matsuri had politely smiled and told her that face paint and a churlish exterior weren't the only ways in which Kankuro put up walls.

Whatever that meant.

She remembered Baki's birthday. Gaara had thrown a party for his former sensei, a very small get together with his family and friends at Baki's house in the village. Kankuro and Temari were present of course, as were a bunch of other random shinobi that Tenten hadn't met yet. There were over a dozen people in all, enough that she didn't have to put up with Kankuro's overly aggressive attitude and vicious stares towards her that night. She had bigger things to worry about because it seemed the wind-user was trying to play match maker with Tenten and his son in a very, very sneaky ninja-like manner.

Iru was extremely tall and lanky, reminding her of Shikamaru in his stature. He had a nice smile and was pleasantly trying to engage her in one of her favorite topics of conversation: weapons. Iru had casually mentioned that his father had talked about her so much that he wanted to be able to meet with her in person. Tenten could remember exactly how many times she had been flattered like that, and unfortunately all of them began and ended with Team Gai. She would have blushed at the notion, but as it was only her skills he seemed to be impressed with, and not the less than conservative outfit Temari and Matsuri shoved her in beforehand, she only smiled and continued to talk business with the man. After some hasty sentences about the importance of keeping your nails excruciatingly short so that a razor sharp weapon wouldn't be more readily to slice the tips and throw of your aim, she turned the conversation to talk about him and his interests. After all, Gai had mentioned to her on more than one occasion, not everything had to be about work or weapons.

But as it turned out it did. Iru really only wanted to talk about his team, his new jutsus, his new rank as jounin, him, him, him, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. People liked to talk about themselves. Perhaps the guy was nervous about his father surreptitiously trying to set him up with someone that he was currently training. She didn't want to write him off, yet she was completely bored with talking to the man within a few minutes. He didn't seem to have a sense of humor, which made no sense because she had witnessed Baki's sense of humor before first hand. Perhaps a cute antidote about the birthday boy, er, man, would be of some common ground to stand on. Gai always talked about proceeding diplomatically, and this was her best shot at switching off the subject of Iru's latest conquest.

But the man wouldn't let her get a word in edge wise, and she desperately looked around to Temari and Matsuri to help save her from her obnoxious company. Iru had herded her toward the veranda, carrying on about his lineage as if it were the most interesting thing in the world, which it wasn't. As much as she tried to tune out Iru's words, his body language was starting to speak very loud and clear his intentions towards her. Tenten tried to feel flattered and not horrified at the prospect of having a decent looking man vying for her affections, after all, no one had really been interested in her romantically before. She tried to keep her smile polite and non-committal instead of looking embarrassed as she forced the pretence.

Kankuro had shown up again, leaning with his arms superimposed over his chest against the doorframe to the veranda. He had no face paint on and wore a loose white linen shirt and dark pants. His hair seemed to stick up as if he had put in gel, something she was going to mentally remember to mock him for later, even if it did help make him look extremely handsome. It was those eyes, simmering with intensity as he looked at her that spoke a world of things that didn't make sense. She determined that maybe she couldn't read the shinobi as well as she had originally thought. His brown eyes sparkled with a mixture of emotion at her. Anger was always there in some form or another, though she wasn't quite sure that was completely directed solely at her. She picked up on some frustration, which always seemed to be coupled with the anger these days, and some other emotions stirring in the under currents. He looked almost put-out for having to come over to them in the first place, like just being in her presence was a huge inconvenience on his part. When his eyes flickered over to Iru, she noticed a confrontational vibe come to the surface, and she began to start to wonder about what kind of relationship the two boys must have had growing up.

When his eyes narrowed, as he tended to do when he was trying to hide an emotion coming up to the surface, he simply stated that Baki was about to open presents and that they should come inside. She was unable to catch the glare that Iru had thrown the other Suna nin, but Kankuro's open defiance to _just try something_ was carved out of stone on his paintless face. Whatever pissing contest had just occurred, it didn't matter as Tenten was grateful that she didn't have to spend any more time alone with Iru. She offered Kankuro a shy smile as she moved passed him and squeeze his forearm with her hand. She mouthed the words "thank you" very sincerely with relief that she had saved him. Kankuro almost didn't know what to make of the direct contact that she was now offering him. His eyes flickered first to his arm so quickly she almost missed it, then he searched her eyes with his own, and the intensity captured all of her attention as she locked eyes with the puppeteer's stare for the briefest of moments. He had taken down the walls for a fraction of a second and let the warmth that he tried so hard to keep buried down come to the surface. She drank in the dark honey-colored hue of his eyes and the basked in the sudden wash of emotion leaking out without his permission. She didn't want to let go of the moment as she followed Iru to the main hall, thinking to herself that she had seen Kankuro emote something other than hate and anger towards her, and for the life of her, she didn't know what it was.

There was something warm on her foot that caused her to retreat from her memories into the present. It was a soothing warmth, one she had come to be quite familiar of over the last few months. She flipped the blanket back slowly and discovered what it was with a curse bitten on her tongue. Kankuro's chakra string was attached to her big toe. She followed faint blue string as thin and as translucent as a spider's web out into the hall where she had heard him speaking before. She had felt this string before, yet there was something about this strand that was different than the ones that she had come across in her many sparring sessions with him. His chakra string was actually emitting a small about of his own chakra into her body to help heal it. It was a kind of soothing thing, like a blanket on a cold day that you really had to feel with your cold skin in order to understand because you couldn't describe it with words. It was as soft and gentle as the day he had healed her in the storm shelter.

However it was also a means of keeping tabs on her whereabouts, and she couldn't allow that. She wasn't sure whether he was able to tell if she was awake or asleep from the thread, so she waited for a few minutes and listened in on the conversation in the hall once more before attempting to move.

He was talking to Temari, and she felt awkward being able to hear such an intimate conversation but she pulled chakra to her ears to overhear them talk anyways.

"How's Shikamaru," the Suna brute asked gruffly. The lack of sleep could be easily heard in the strain in his voice.

"He's fine," the blonde answered with sibling authority, "But you look like shit. My guess is you need a hot meal, a bath and some sleep." Kankuro probably just shrugged his shoulders at her, which prompted the next statement to come out of her mouth with even more sassiness than usual. "Do you really want her to wake up and see you looking like hell?" She wasn't prepared for the vehemence of his next statement. Neither, really, was Tenten.

"No! I just want her to wake up!"


	5. Chapter 5

There was a maddening silence that flowed from the hallway; her own heart monitor seemed to blare loudly in her ear even though she knew it was only a soft beep. She was certain that half the hospital ward had heard his shouting. Kankuro always did have trouble thinking when he was sleep and food deprived. All of the efforts to keep those walls up fell down around him, and he couldn't hide anymore from his sister, himself, and unknowingly, Tenten.

"Temari, he is still out there," it wasn't a growl this time like it normally would have been. It was a confession founded in defeat. He needed to protect her, but couldn't, didn't.

"Gaara sent Baki and a specialized team to track him down. They will find him, Kankuro," her voice turned to placate the pain-stricken man. "Baki was nearly as pissed about this as Gaara was. Tenten and Matsuri were the closest things to daughters that man has ever had besides me. He is not going to rest until that man pays for what he did." Tenten imagined that Kankuro nodded his head as she couldn't see it. Temari brightened up once more, "How bout I take your place for a while, you go home and eat some non-hospital DFAC food, take a shower and a nap and come back tomorrow morning. Get going before I have to kick your ass and make you." Temari had a way of getting her brother to comply, against his wishes to stay.

"Thanks Temari," he retracted his chakra string from her foot from outside in the hall and made his way out of the building.

Temari entered her room as Tenten sat up cautiously. She kept the lights off and sat on the edge of the bed. "Do I need to get the nurse?" she asked quietly, trying to politely offer some assistance to the injured kunoichi.

"Naw," Tenten's scratchy throat barely let her speak. She shifted, knowing that look that Temari got when she didn't like a situation. Temari was in rare mother-hen protection mode. "How long was I out?" she noted she was starting to get sick of asking that question.

"Few days," Temari stated passively, almost apologetically.

"Matsuri? Shikamaru?" she asked in hopes that they didn't have an extended hospital stay like she did.

"Shikamaru is back in Konoha, safe and sound." Tenten picked up just the slightest bit of disappointment in her voice, but it faded quickly, "Gaara won't let Matsuri out of his sight. She says it's driving her nuts, but we all know she secretly likes it." She could make out the white teeth of the blonde's smile in the dark, which caused a smile to form on her face as well.

"Did we get the bad guy?" she had to ask this or it might make Temari think that she had overheard her conversation with her brother in the hallway.

"Not yet," she shifted on the bed beside her, playing with a loose string on the frayed hospital blanket. "Gaara is afraid that he might come back and finish the job. He has guards posted at every entrance of the hospital. Apparently you really pissed that guy off." Tenten was given a swinging door and she knew she could feign ignorance if need be.

"Who'd I piss of this time?" Tenten coughed just a bit as Temari crossed the room to get her a much needed glass of water.

"A bastard from Jimen country, someone who wanted to use you all as leverage to get his way. He needed some hostages and took you three by surprise right outside of Suna. You were at the wrong place at that wrong time." She paused for a moment to let her words sink in.

"Do me a favor and don't tell my master, he will have me doing sprints from Suna to Konoha if he knew I was the last one to heal from all of this." Tenten moved her free hand upwards to gently feel the bandage covering over the side of her head. "Wait," Tenten reasoned from the information that she was given, "why would he come back and finish the job if he didn't have a reason to take me other than at random? Wouldn't taking someone else be easier than taking someone who was able to get away if all he only took people just for the sake of needing a hostage?" Tenten began to get dizzy from all of the pain and thinking. She closed her eyes tightly and let out a forcible grunt in anguish.

"Easy there, girl," Temari took the glass of water from her and helped guide her head back onto her pillow. "I think that is enough thinking for today. I don't want you injuring what little brains the man left in your skull," she added slyly to which Tenten gave a dry "ha, ha" to the wind kunoichi, and fell back asleep before her body could even register that it needed the rest.

He was watching her with those penetrating eyes again, she could tell. Standing at full shinobi attention while talking and looking only at the Kazekage became a little harder under Kankuro's constant vigilant stares. Those golden brown eyes were locked on her in a way that made her want to squirm under his scrutiny, but she was able to give the Kazekage her full report after a few weeks of training without stuttering, hesitating or having the Kazekage repeat any of his questions. Training under Maito Gai meant she could suffer through the most odd, if not all out embarrassing situations, so a little pressure to perform was nothing new to her. She just didn't know why his attention was so wholly focused on her most of the time. Didn't he get by now that intimidating her wasn't going to work?

But that was a distant dream, no memory, she realized. All of her memories and recollections had all amounted to one thing, Kankuro either hated her or...

She couldn't rely on her memories anymore for accurate information. They seemed to only be feeding her images of Kankuro giving off that weird vibe and staring her down like prey before the hunter makes his move, or like some vile thing he wanted to destroy. That's when she decided to go to the source of the problem and find out for herself what was really going on.

And she _was_ going to ask Kankuro what the hell was going on and make him answer all of her questions whether he wanted to or not. Temari had taken it upon herself to go find the nurse so it wasn't hard to slip passed the guards. She found her pack before she left and henged into a nurse so that she wouldn't get stopped on her way out of the building. It wasn't long before she was at the Sand sibling's door, slipping a spare key in the lock and opening it up to a virtually empty house. The clicking door behind her echoed against the imported wooden floor boards and a distant rush of a shower head could be heard in a nearby bathroom.

"Kankuro!" she called out to the man in question, recognizing his chakra signature from behind the door, "I need to speak with you! Hurry up!"

She could have swore that it sounded like he had nearly slipped and caught himself in the shower, and she mentally reprimanded herself for not waiting until he had at least finished getting out of the bathroom before confronting him.

"Tenten?" the awe struck voice was filled with alarm and disbelief from behind the door, "What are you doing here? You need to be in bed resting! Where is Temari, she was supposed to be watching you! Why aren't you at the hospital-"

"Would you shut and listen to me!" she hadn't meant to lose her balance and ended up falling into the wall. The searing pain in her skull would not be deterred and threatened to knock her back out again if she didn't stop and take it easy.

He must have heard her clumsy landing, because when she opened her eyes, he was scowling at her and trying to get her up by her shoulders.

He was muttering obscenities, more crap about her condition being unstable and needing rest if she were to ever get better. _And she had to get better_, he spat out in a near desperate plea, _because_.

She could barely keep her eyes open, from the pain that threatened to split her skull to the unwavering sleepiness that clouded her thoughts; she started to become limp in Kankuro's arms.

"NO!" he shouted. He held her in his arms, brushing the bangs out of her face and looking upon her injury with a sense of helplessness that seemed like it was breaking him. "You have to stay awake," he was whispering, pleading again as her eyes fluttered closed. Then a sudden surge of fear and alarm surged through him and he set her down carefully on some surface that was soft and warm before turning and facing their attacker. Their attacker who had come back to finish the job he started.

"You did this to her!" Kankuro snarled to the man in the doorway. Tenten realized that Kankuro had moved her to a room of sorts and had placed her on a bed. When she breathed deeply into the pillow she recognized the earthy masculine scent as Kankuro's. He could have placed her on the couch, or on the floor, the guest bedroom or even in Gaara's or Temari's room. It wasn't like he had the excuse of his puppets were here, so that is why he chose this place in an effort to grab weapons right before he threw down with this shinobi. All of his weapons and puppets were downstairs.

No, he placed her on his bed because he_ wanted_ to.

The scuffle lasted only a few short seconds. Kankuro had taken him up by his front shirt and promised him horrible torture because Gaara had made him promise first not to kill the bastard. Apparently Gaara wanted to beat the crap out him too for the things he did to Matsuri and was unwilling to be reasonable about being the only one to get a decent ass-kicking in before Gaara tore him apart preceding his imminent death.

Kankuro had him trapped away in one of his puppets in no time, and then turned another critical eye to the kunoichi on his bed.

"That guy really wanted me dead," Tenten mused with sigh. "Why?"

Kankuro looked as if he didn't know the answer, or as if he didn't want to answer.

"That's not important now," he tried to pacify as he hovered above her, fussing over her head wound. "What's important is that you get better so that you can continue to kick ass on the battlefield." He smiled, letting the emotion come through in his eyes. The dark gold sparkled down at her, and she drank in the warmth of his hand on her forehead.

"You're warm," she grabbed at his wrist and pulled it towards her, "Come warm me up."

"Tenten, we need to get you back to the hospital," he protested lightly but crawled into bed behind her nonetheless.

The boyish look of uncertainty was priceless on the always gruff shinobi as he wrapped his thick arms around her.

"I'm good, doctors say I'm fine. I just need some rest," and that was the last sentence that was spoken as Kankuro pressed his warm body against hers and she fell into a blissful slumber. She knew he had trouble expressing himself with words, and that a full out confession of those disturbing thoughts might just be the end of him. In time, though, he might be able to say what he had been saying all along with those piercing eyes of his, because she knew now that he was trying to tell her something with every look he had given her since she found out that day that he really did eat sushi with wasabi sauce. He might not have recognized the feelings himself right away, but somehow that didn't matter now as he nuzzled closer to her and pressed tender kisses on the side of her face and forehead. What mattered was that they were in each other's arms, and no one was going to be able to keep them apart.

A/N: Thank you for all of your love and support! Thank you for all of the reviews! More love to Kankuro and Tenten!

I wanted to keep Kankuro in a raw, almost mean (but not completely malicious) state. I wanted to stay away from the playful, playboy type that I see a lot of other writers portray him as. I hope this fic met everyone's expectations and kept him in character.

Next one is a ShikaXTen for the loverly Morphy-chan….after that, probably a Tokuma and Tenten, just for the hell of it. (Anything but Neji, seriously.)

Cheers!

*Jaggedjacket*


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